


we all have our talents

by BunniesofDoom



Series: Line of Succession [6]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Exhaustion, F/F, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28910397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: "We need to track down Amity Tower."
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Series: Line of Succession [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076177
Kudos: 33





	we all have our talents

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I'd work on this story a bit more before Volume 8 starts up again. Enjoy!

"We need to track down Amity Tower," Ruby announces.

It's the morning after they rescued Qrow and Robyn. Despite her exhaustion following the overuse of her semblance yesterday, Ruby had decided that she was fine after one good night's rest and was back to planning. Yang can't help but admire her sister's resolve, but she still worries that her sister is going to run herself into the ground at this rate.

Sometimes these days it feels like Ruby is a completely different person. Gone is Yang's cheerful little sister who always wore a smile and talked everyone's ears off, replaced by this more serious, quiet, frowning version. Sure, some of it is the natural result of her little sister growing up, but a large part of it is from trauma, and Yang wishes that she could have shielded her sister from the cruelty of the world for a little bit longer.

Well, regardless of Yang's regrets, she can't dwell on that right now. And maybe someday, the bright, sunny Ruby that they all know and love will return to them. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts.

"What's so important about finding Amity?" Marrow asks.

"Dr. Polendina and Maria were on Amity when Penny fell. If they're still up there, they're trapped, and the tower is drifting. They could be in danger. We need to help them."

"As much as I don't want to leave them stranded up there, I'm not sure if we have enough time or fuel to search the entire sky. We'd need a more specific location than that." Marrow sighs. "Come to think of it, we probably need to refuel the ship anyway."

"And I need to return to Mantle." Robyn chimes in. "Atlas has plenty of people up here to protect its citizens and rebuild the city, but Mantle's resources are more limited. They need every huntsman and huntress that they can get."

Now it's Ruby's turn to sigh. She turns to Marrow. "Where could we find some spare fuel for the airship?"

"I think there's some in an out-of-the-way base in Mantle that I've been to before," Marrow suggests. "We should have enough left in the airship to fly there and refuel."

"Great." Ruby nods shortly. "We'll get that taken care of, and Robyn can come with us and stay in Mantle. Sounds like a plan."

"But we still don't know where the communications tower is," Jaune points out. "We can't exactly just go flying around hoping that we get lucky and bump into it."

"We're not." Ruby pushes her hair out of her face impatiently. "I have Penny's memories, remember? I have the coordinates of its approximate location when she fell, as well as the location it was on course to drift to. We can start our search there." She sighs, her gaze growing distant. "And if we need to, Qrow and I can split up, to cover more ground."

Jaune frowns. "Qrow I can understand, but how are you—"

"I can fly, remember?"

They fall into a bit of an awkward silence after that. Finally, Marrow speaks up. "Sounds like you've got everything planned out."

Ruby nods, the corner of her mouth twitching up in a half-smile. "I do. Let's get ready to go. I don't want to leave Pietro and Maria any longer than necessary, and the sooner we rescue them, the sooner we can leave Atlas."

"We shouldn't be in a rush to leave," Weiss says, frowning. "There's still things we can do here. We can't just leave when the city is in a state like this."

"We have to," Ruby replies, tone firm. "Just because Salem was defeated here, doesn't mean that she's just going to give up. She'll just switch targets. Plus, since I'm the Winter Maiden, as long as I stay here, the Relic is in danger. The sooner I leave Atlas, and the farther I get from the kingdom, the safer the Relic will be." She sighs heavily. "I'd like to stick around and help, too, but we don't always get what we want."

The first part of their mission goes smoothly. Their trip to the base to refuel the airship goes without a hitch. Since the base isn't in Atlas proper, it's basically unguarded, and it happens to be in a relatively undamaged part of town. They refuel, part ways with Robyn, and take off again, heading for the set of coordinates that Ruby had retrieved from Penny's memories.

And of course, nothing is there. Time for plan B. "Head to the second set of coordinates I gave you," Ruby says. "Qrow and I will fan out to widen the search."

Marrow nods, and in a rustle of feathers Qrow transforms. Ruby closes her eyes for a moment, and when she opens them, they're surrounded with silver flames. "With any luck, we'll see you guys in a few minutes." With that, she jogs over to the side of the airship, launching herself out the open door.

Yang has to stop herself from calling after her, resisting her natural impulse to stop her sister from jumping out of an airship at this height. It's a strange feeling, watching her sister float effortlessly among the clouds. Within seconds she's rising up through the air like smoke, soon out of view.

With Ruby gone, they're all filled with a sort of nervous anticipation, unwilling to be separated from their teammate for longer than necessary. Ren and Jaune had stayed behind to tend to Oscar and Nora, and Emerald had declined to come along as well, so it's just Weiss, Blake, and Yang left in the airship with Marrow.

Fortunately, they don't have to wait long. About fifteen minutes later, a large black crow swoops into the airship, transforming back into a man before landing next to Yang. Ruby swoops in after him, hastily skidding to a halt beside Qrow. "Definitely need to work on my landing strategy," her sister muses, and Yang finds herself smiling. It's the most that Ruby has sounded like herself since—well, everything that's happened.

Ruby brushes herself off and strolls over to Marrow. "If you steer the ship to the left for a bit, you'll see the tower. It's pretty hard to miss."

Sure enough, the bulk of Amity Arena is soon looming ahead of them, easy to spot even through the heavy covering of clouds. Once they're close enough, Ruby takes flight once more, gliding over to the tower and disappearing inside. After a few minutes, she returns carrying Maria, depositing her gently on the floor of the airship. Retrieving Pietro takes her a bit longer, as she ends up making two trips to bring back both the man and his wheelchair.

Ruby looks exhausted once she's back in the airship, stumbling slightly as she tries to right both herself and the chair. Her team immediately springs into action. Weiss and Blake step in to help her find a spot for the wheelchair, while Yang helps to steady her sister. "You good?" Yang asks Ruby.

"I should be asking you guys that." Ruby nods, still breathing hard. "Everyone good to go?" At the resounding chorus of "yes," Ruby sighs, shoulders slumping a little. "Alright then. Take us back, Marrow."

Her sister sleeps most of the way back, exhausted from using her maiden powers so much in one day. As soon as they're back at the manor and Yang shakes her awake, though, Ruby vanishes. Yang sighs. She leaves Weiss and Blake to fill in the new arrivals and goes to look for her sister.

Once again, Yang finds herself letting her gut guide her to wherever Ruby has run off to. She finds her sister tucked away in an alcove, sitting in the corner with her knees drawn up to her chest. She's not crying, but her eyes are rimmed with red. "Hey, sis. I was wondering where you'd wandered off to."

Ruby doesn't look up. "I really don't want to talk right now, Yang."

"I know." Yang sits down, tucking herself into the corner next to Ruby. "But I'm here to listen if you change your mind."

Silence falls over the two of them for a few minutes, broken only by the occasional sniffle from Ruby. Surprisingly, her sister is the one who breaks first. "I had to—to tell Dr. Polendina about what happened to Penny. That his daughter is gone again." She scrubs at her eyes and sniffs hard. "I know that you guys said that it wasn't my fault, but I still feel like there's something more I could have—should have done. Maybe she'd still be here, if I just—tried harder."

"Ruby." Yang puts a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'm not going to sit here and watch you beat yourself up. This is not your fault. You did everything you could. We all know how much you care about Penny, and we all know that you did everything you could to save her. Nobody is blaming you." She puts an arm around her sister, tugging Ruby closer to her side. "I know that Penny wouldn't blame you. And you're the one with her memories, after all. Does she seem mad at you at all?"

Ruby thinks for a few seconds before shaking her head. "No," she admits quietly. "Thanks, Yang." She makes a noise like a stifled sob. "I miss her so much."

"I know," Yang replies gently, rubbing small circles between Ruby's shoulder blades as her sister begins to cry in earnest.

"I was in love with her, you know that?" Ruby chokes out, her voice thick with tears. "I think I always was, I just didn't realize it until I saw her alive again in Atlas. I wish I—I should have told her. Now I'll never get the chance."

Yang lets her sister cry herself out, holding her close and murmuring soothing words until Ruby succumbs to exhaustion, head lolling sideways until she's snoring softly, a warm weight on Yang's shoulder.

Tomorrow, or maybe the day after, they'll leave Atlas for wherever they need to go next. And although Ruby's grief won't go away overnight, it will diminish with time. And team RWBY will be there to support her the whole way.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.


End file.
